Anybody recently travelled from UK to Malaga by train? I am travelling with wife and two friends -all of us above 65-and would appreciate any help towards best trains etc. Travelling around 1st week in May 2018 and returning to UK 2 weeks later, nothing set in concrete, could be 15 days

Travelling to Malaga by train from the U K can be frighteningly expensive, I don't know how deep you pockets are but it's certainly not cheap. you will first have to travel to Paris, then Paris Austerlitz to Madrid (I think) them Madrid-Malaga, bearing in mind that this would probably require 1-2 nights on trains (requiring sleeper berths) then also the amount of money you spend on the trains.I can tell you that I did this trip more than 20 years ago, it was a very pleasant journey but it was expensive even then.However, if you can afford it, do it, it's a pleasant experience. my Itinerary was: Dover-Calais-Paris by car/ferry then Paris overnight sleeper-Madrid then on to Malaga by car, good luck with your journey !!

When we lived in Spain we travelled to and from the U.K. by train many times and thoroughly enjoyed it. Far more civilised than modern day air travel! Admittedly more expensive and a much slower journey but if you accept those constraints, well worth it.

Take a look at the “man in seat 61” web site, it gives you a very detailed guide.

Briefly, take the Eurostar train London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord. Cross to Paris Gare du Este (a couple of stops on the Metro or by taxi). TGV high speed train Paris to Barcelona (6 hours). Night in Barcelona then next morning AVE high speed train to Malaga. No need to go anywhere near Madrid. Similar journey in reverse on the way back from Spain to U.K.

The night sleeper services between Spain and Paris were withdrawn a few years back (2013).

As I said, very civilised with none of the cattle herding to board flights, minimum security restrictions and ability to stretch legs during the journey. I can’t recommend it enough!

Thanks a bunch Rob, why do you prefer O/N in Barcelona to Paris please, what are advantages? Have a problem in that you can't book tickets more than 3 months in advance and then I want to co-ordinate Hotels/Trains?

If you take a look at the web site mentioned it will be come clear which overnight option suits you.Basically there are two trains daily from Paris to Barcelona so it depends which time train you take. The morning train from Paris leaves at 10.07 which means staying the previous evening in Paris. The afternoon train from Paris leaves at 14.07 so you can do the whole London to Barcelona in a day and stay that night in Barcelona. So, it depends whether you want a night in Paris at the start of the journey or a night in Barcelona at the end of day 1. We always chose the latter, not great fans of Paris!There is also an additional summer months service as the web site explains. Never used it ourselves.

Depending what time of the year you travel we never had any problems finding hotels near Sants station in Barcelona where the train arrives and leaves so three months advance booking is more than enough (even for Xmas travel!).

Madrid to Malaga or Barca to Malaga is direct with no changes. The cost is around 80 euros each if you book in advance. I have just done the Madrid to Malaga trip on the AVE. Not much to look at scenary wise as it is very baron.

Unless you are avoiding flying for health reasons I would say it would be nice to do the UK to Spain journey by train one way and fly the other.